The "Beer and Hymns" Controversy - My Thoughts

https://www.christianheadlines.com/blog/oklahoma-church-organizes-beer-and-hymns-sunday-with-three-beer-limit.html

The above article is all about a Tulsa church trying to get people to come to church. They are using a “Beer and Hymns” theme to do it. I often read the comments that people post following the articles I read. As I expected, this idea was slammed by Christians as “blasphemous” and “inviting the devil into the church”, etc. On the surface I agree with them whole-heartedly, but is there something going on here that we aren’t seeing? Is this church addressing an issue that other churches, while aware of the same issue, are ignoring?

I think there's a couple ways to look at this. The first question in my mind as I read this article was "why resort to gimmicks to get people into church?" But upon further consideration, I asked myself, "WHY are people not going to church?" I was reminded of an experience I had in my younger days. I worked with a bunch of guys who refused to invite me to things (parties, home celebrations, etc) because they would drink at those functions. I was the "religious" guy. I never hid my faith, so they didn't want me there. They assumed I considered myself to be “too good for them” or would condemn them for their behavior. Somehow, they “knew” I didn’t fit in. Maybe I was seen as a reminder that they lived a “sinful” life. I’m not 100% sure why I was so unpopular, but I was. I was the company "outcast" because of my faith. But one day, maybe by accident, I got invited to go to the bar after work. Everyone assumed I would refuse, but to their surprise, I accepted. I don't drink, but not because of my faith. I grew up around alcoholism and was prone to it myself. I realized this early on and I avoid alcohol (for myself) because I am not going down that road. I have no problem with other people drinking “in moderation”. So, on this occasion, I drank Coke all night, while they drank beer. They harassed me for not drinking, and even the waitress made a joke about me “wetting the bed” because I was drinking just Coke. To their surprise, I laughed with them, and even made jokes about it too. When it started getting a little later into the evening, I knew I could not be the first to leave because "it was expected" based on their assumptions about religious people. So I stayed until the end of the night. I was actually in the group last to leave the bar, at closing time. The next day I was suddenly accepted into the group because I was now seen as a "regular" guy. I never compromised my beliefs that evening. I also never spoke of the evils of drinking, or condemn them for anything they did, or make any demands. I accepted my coworkers as my equals and friends. As I came to find out later, the guys expected me to be so uncomfortable that I would leave on my own and accept my role as the “outcast”. Their jokes were to intimidate me and make me want to leave. What they didn’t know, or expect, is that I entered THEIR world. And the strangest outcome of all, they started having conversations with me about my faith and God. I could be approached because I didn't shun them for their lifestyle. I allowed them to be them, and accepted them as they were. There was no expectations or disappointment in who they were, just honest and complete acceptance.

I believe many people do not attend church because too many Christians are no longer "relevant" to real life. We have created rules and regulations that keep others out of the church. "Drinking alcohol is wrong", so if you do that, you cannot be part of our community. Well, whether you believe drinking is wrong or not, by putting that out there, anyone who drinks is not going to associate with you, or WANT to be part of your community. The general population considers drinking to be fun, and Christians are not. Christians are constantly throwing a wet blanket on their fun. You may not agree, but that is our reputation in the mainstream.

So I like to think in these terms, the idea is to get into THEIR world first. That doesn’t mean you have to compromise your beliefs and do what they do, but you have to stop condemning others for how they live, stop pointing out all their faults, or telling them the “proper” way to behave. Just sit with those who need God, and listen, ask questions, just be sincere. Care about them, provide for their needs. Just let your light show them a better way, BY EXAMPLE. The discussions will come later. Who's going to come to Jesus if we say, "to come to Jesus, you can't drink, you can't smoke, you can't...whatever"? They are going to keep their distance because you don't allow them to see Jesus in you because of all the rules and regulations that you have set up to keep them away. All they can see are the rules and regulations, not the love we have because of Jesus. Yes, the hope is that once they come to Jesus, they will straighten out whatever sinful leanings they may have, but that is for God to work out with them.

I have met many Christians who say things like, "I wouldn't be caught dead in a bar, or in a <insert your place where the non-saved hang out>" Well, if you won't go there, how will those who need Jesus ever meet him? We are called to be "in the world, but not 'of' it." But everyone is so worried about "doing the right thing" that they avoid going "into the world" out of fear that they might "appear" to be "of the world", or they are concerned that they might be seen by other Christians and their intentions “misinterpreted". Jesus was not afraid to get his hands dirty to be with "sinners". Avoiding the evils of the world only removes us from those who need to see our holiness. Hiding inside the church prevents the unsaved from ever seeing God because we hide our light inside it, where they will not go on their own. We need to go out into the world to find those who need God, because they will not be coming to us.

In my story of going to the bar, some Christian friends condemned me for being in such a place. But guess what, the guys I worked with never had a serious discussion about God before, because they won't go into a church where the discussions are happening. But they WILL go into a bar, and because I was there with them, they finally had that discussion. Whether or not they accepted Christ is immaterial. The important piece is that they got to meet one of His disciples and hear His message. They didn't go to church to hear it. They heard it in THEIR environment, not mine.

So let’s not be so quick to judge this church who is trying “Beer and Hymns”. It may very well be the wrong approach, but it IS an approach. How many of us attend churches that have no real evangelism "effort"? How many churches are waning in number because no one new is coming in? Nearly every denomination is losing numbers. THAT cannot be denied. But how many churches have willing members who are going out into the world to meet people that need God? And then boldly show God’s love to them, without condemnation, but with pure acceptance? Are we willing to talk to strangers about the good news of Jesus? On the other hand, many churches work very hard at being a “welcoming” church. By the way, that is a very important quality, but how many churches have all that many visitors coming in the doors? And are the visitors already believers? Only those seeking a church will find one. Our mission is to MAKE disciples, not recruit them from other congregations. If we concentrate on only those who enter our doors, we may become very good at it, but those who NEED Jesus are not going to come to our churches. If the lost are seeking for God, and knew the church is the place to find Him, then our numbers would not be falling. WE have to go out and FIND the lost, show them the Way, and accept them into our community. Accepting those who are not just like us, can be very difficult, but think about it, Jesus went to the outcasts, not the religious folks. He said, “Only the sick need a doctor, not the healthy”. So let’s stop trying to grow by recruiting from other churches and start recruiting those who don’t know God, by letting them see God in you. If that means going to a bar, then perhaps being in church, at the time you should be in the bar, means you are spending your time in the wrong place.

As an added bonus, a friend of mine over at Godvine sent me this video after reading my thoughts in this article:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rdtAQ31Xbo

Advice to Kids in School

None of the following writing is my own. I am only putting it out there because it is so good. I very much enjoyed the writing of this author, and the wisdom he espouses. Currently, this list is circulating on Facebook as a meme attributing the wisdom to Bill Gates. Only rule # 11 actually sounds like something Bill Gates would say. Everything else goes against his general philosophy based on my observation of his speeches and actions. So here is the list including some additional rules and additional verbiage on each rule:

This list is actually the work of Charles J. Sykes, author of the 1996 book Dumbing Down Our Kids: Why American Children Feel Good About Themselves But Can't Read, Write, Or Add. 

Rule No. 1:   Life is not fair. Get used to it. The average teen-ager uses the phrase "It's not fair" 8.6 times a day. You got it from your parents, who said it so often you decided they must be the most idealistic generation ever. When they started hearing it from their own kids, they realized Rule No. 1.

Rule No. 2:   The real world won't care as much about your self-esteem as much as your school does. It'll expect you to accomplish something before you feel good about yourself. This may come as a shock. Usually, when inflated self-esteem meets reality, kids complain that it's not fair. (See Rule No. 1)

Rule No. 3:   Sorry, you won't make $40,000 a year right out of high school. And you won't be a vice president or have a car phone either. You may even have to wear a uniform that doesn't have a Gap label.

Rule No. 4:   If you think your teacher is tough, wait 'til you get a boss. He doesn't have tenure, so he tends to be a bit edgier. When you screw up, he's not going to ask you how you feel about it.

Rule No. 5:   Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity. They weren't embarrassed making minimum wage either. They would have been embarrassed to sit around talking about Kurt Cobain all weekend.

Rule No. 6:   It's not your parents' fault. If you screw up, you are responsible. This is the flip side of "It's my life," and "You're not the boss of me," and other eloquent proclamations of your generation. When you turn 18, it's on your dime. Don't whine about it, or you'll sound like a baby boomer.

Rule No. 7:   Before you were born your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way paying your bills, cleaning up your room and listening to you tell them how idealistic you are. And by the way, before you save the rain forest from the blood-sucking parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet in your bedroom.

Rule No. 8:   Your school may have done away with winners and losers. Life hasn't. In some schools, they'll give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. Failing grades have been abolished and class valedictorians scrapped, lest anyone's feelings be hurt. Effort is as important as results. This, of course, bears not the slightest resemblance to anything in real life. (See Rule No. 1, Rule No. 2 and Rule No. 4.)

Rule No. 9:   Life is not divided into semesters, and you don't get summers off. Not even Easter break. They expect you to show up every day. For eight hours. And you don't get a new life every 10 weeks. It just goes on and on. While we're at it, very few jobs are interested in fostering your self-expression or helping you find yourself. Fewer still lead to self-realization. (See Rule No. 1 and Rule No. 2.)

Rule No. 10:   Television is not real life. Your life is not a sitcom. Your problems will not all be solved in 30 minutes, minus time for commercials. In real life, people actually have to leave the coffee shop to go to jobs. Your friends will not be as perky or pliable as Jennifer Aniston.

Rule No. 11:   Be nice to nerds. You may end up working for them. We all could.
 

Rule No. 12:   Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you're out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That's what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for "expressing yourself" with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.

Rule No. 13:   You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven't seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.

Rule No. 14:   Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school's a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you'll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You're welcome.

My Sermon from April 27, 2014

This entry is not my view on a current event.

I was asked to fill in for our pastor for the week following Easter. I love to preach, so of course I accepted. I struggled with a topic for weeks and came up with nothing. About a week before it was due, a chain of events lead me to find the scriptures I believe God wanted me to preach on. So here's the sermon I delivered that day. It is based on Genesis 1:26-27,5:1 and Romans 8:28-39.

How many of you have a son or daughter, or maybe a parent that looks like you? People look at you and say, “there’s no doubt who’s child you are.”

If you took the baby pictures of my grandfather, my father, myself, and my daughter at age 3 months, you could not tell which picture was me other than by the bad color of the photograph. All 4 of us look like the exact same person. Now, my grandfather’s picture is brown, my father’s is black and white, mine is in color, but faded and not very realistic color from the 1960s, and my daughter’s looks more life-like. But the point is, we all look exactly alike. We could be the same person. The way we each look was determined by our genetic make-up and since we all share the same genetic traits, being in the same family, we look just like each other.

In the Genesis passages that Shirley read for us this morning, the Bible tells us: “God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” So I ask, “What does being created in the IMAGE of God mean to you?” Does it mean we look like God? Does it mean we act like God? What thoughts are provoked in your mind when you think about being created in the image of God? When did you last think about this idea? HAVE you ever thought about this idea?

I have been in churches and heard preachers say things like, “we are nothing but lowly sinners. We are like worms in the sight of the Lord.” Paul even tells us in Romans 3, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” So if we are such lowly creatures and this idea is true, what hope is there for us? We bought ourselves a one way ticket to fire and brimstone and that flight ain’t coming back!

Today, I want start off by challenging this idea. I want us to consider our value as human beings. Does God value us, or are we in fact lowly and worthless? Yes, we are sinners. No doubt about it. I’m not even going to try to argue on that. But what does “being created in God’s image have to do with anything?”

Well, let’s look at that phrase. Being created in the “image” or “likeness” of God means in the simplest terms, that we were made to resemble God. Think about that for a second, “WE RESEMBLE GOD.”

So in what way do we resemble God? In John’s gospel, he tells us that “God is spirit.” And when God created man, first he formed his body from the dust of the ground. Then He breathed into him, the “breath of life.” This “breath of life” was God’s spirit. God gave human beings a piece of His own spirit in order for us to become living beings. Think about that. Part of God’s spirit is inside of us. So if our spirit is part of God’s spirit, we are like God. We have the attributes of God as part of our being. God is love. So we are love. God offers grace. So we offer grace. We don’t do it because that’s what we are supposed to do, we do it because that is part of our nature. If you do it out of obligation or a sense of duty, you are denying what God planned for you, and who God created you to be.

I want to talk a little about another aspect of being like God. This one is near and dear to my heart.

First, let’s take a poll. By a show of hands, who is afraid of something? (All hands went up).

Let me ask, "what exactly are the things you afraid of? "

Some of us could make a huge list, right? But let me get real specific.

Let’s take another poll. By a show of hands, who here is afraid of what other people think of you?

If you notice, my hand is up. Because, that’s a really big one for me. I’m afraid that if I tell someone I’m a Christian they might not like me. Or if I invite someone to come to church, I might say the wrong thing and turn them off to church. Or I’m afraid that if they do come to church, someone who’s having a bad day will talk to them and give a bad impression of our church, and that will reflect badly on all of us. Maybe, if I talk about my faith at work, someone will stop talking to me because they have a different belief? Or worse yet, being from the Church of the Brethren, I might offend someone! We can’t have that!

You can see how ridiculous this thinking can get. It sounds like an exaggeration, but many people have those exact thoughts. I know I do. I have always worried about what people think of me. It was part of my childhood. I was constantly told, “If you do this or that, what will people think?” I was taught very early to be concerned with what people thought of me. I also learned that if I didn’t behave or got out of line, the concern was “how does that reflect on my parents?” Anyone with kids ever worry about that? You’re real concern is not “what do people think about them”, but “what do they think about me?”

So how do we handle this fear? Well, for me, it’s very simple. I don’t talk about my faith until I am sure that it’s safe to do so. If my co-worker says, “do you go to church?” WOW! Pressure is off, and I can talk all day long about how much I love my church and my faith and about our ministries and how I am active in this, that or the other thing. You can’t shut me up once the coast is clear. But is that what we are called to be?

The Apostle Paul, writing to a young man named Timothy said this, “God did not give us a spirit of fear, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.”

Earlier, I was exploring the origin of the human spirit. Our human spirit was put in us by God, and it was a piece of God’s own spirit. He breathed that spirit into our bodies and put life into us. Paul says that it is a spirit of power and love and self-discipline. He says, “it is NOT a spirit of fear.” And what did I express happens when I want to share my faith with others? FEAR! Every thought I have is based in FEAR! God didn’t give me a spirit of fear. So why am I so afraid? I was taught from birth to deny my true nature. My true nature is one of power and love, not fear. We have to unlearn the lessons that contradict our true nature, the nature God put in us. If you find yourself in a situation and your reaction to that situation is fear, you are contradicting your true nature. You are contradicting God’s nature.

 I’m not saying walk down the worst streets of Richmond just because you have to prove there is nothing to fear. Of course use common sense, be cautious, and don’t take reckless chances, but if God calls you to work, for example, in a high security prison, like our brother Ray is doing this weekend, then go and do what you are called to do, without fear. If God calls you to do something, you should not fear it. You should embrace it and know God has reasons why you are chosen and God will be with you. But there is no need for fear. The Bible is full of examples of men and women who had fear, Isaiah, Jonah, Elijah, Moses, Aaron, Peter, the women at the tomb, and the list goes on and on. And we recognize the names I mentioned because each one went against their fear and did great things for God. They just had to get over their fear.

I want to read two passages from the New Testament, first from Hebrews. “Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being (emphasis mine), and he sustains all things by his powerful word.”

The second passage is from Romans that Shirley read this morning. “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

The Hebrews passage tells us that Jesus is “the exact imprint of God’s very being.” And in Romans, Paul tells us that those who have faith in Jesus (Christians) are “to be conformed to the image of God’s son.” So let’s spell that out. We who have faith in Jesus are to be conformed to be like Jesus, who is the exact imprint of God’s very being. In other words, we, as Christians are being conformed to God’s very being. How powerful is that? We are to be ever moving to be more and more like God’s very being.

Here’s a couple of questions for you. Do you think anything is impossible for God? I’ll go out on a limb and say we answered, “No.” So, if we are to be conformed to God’s very being, should anything be impossible for us? Of course not! So why are we not acting like a child of God? Like an image of God? We are the embodiment of Jesus’ character, who is an exact imprint of God’s very being. We should be loving other people with unconditional love, without fear, without hesitation. There is nothing that should ever hold us back from accomplishing what God has called us to do.

John writes, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear;” So if we love people unconditionally, how can we have fear of them? You cannot love what you fear. If you fear people or a particular group of people, you cannot love them. None of us will want to admit this, but we all have people that we fear, perhaps it’s a particular group of people, or maybe an individual. But if we fear them, how can we love them? Let me clarify something, there is a difference between fear “of them” and fear of “what they may do.” I am not an advocate of placing yourself in danger to love someone.

Here’s something else to consider. When you meet someone, talk to them, or whatever the situation might be, how do you view that other person? For example, I’ve been going on about having part of God’s spirit in us, being created in God’s image. Do you ever consider that the person you are looking at or speaking with was ALSO created in God’s image. They ALSO have a piece of God’s spirit in them. What did Jesus say? “Whatever you did to one of the least of these, you did it to me.” If you love God, you HAVE to love other people, no matter who they might be. Because you cannot hate someone who is created in God’s image and also love God at the same time. IT CANNOT BE DONE!

What is the mission of this congregation? Let me read that for you, “Seeking to be God’s voice and hands of love, we continue the work of Jesus, peacefully, simply, together.” I don’t see where it says, “in fear.” It says, “we seek to be God’s voice and hands of love!”

Back to the Romans passage Shirley read, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” WE are glorified by God! And another thing we should remember, we are brothers and sisters of Jesus. We share in his kingdom AND in his resurrection. We are part of a family with God as our Father and Jesus as our brother! It doesn’t get better than that!

Going on, “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” I had to let that one sink in a little, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Why do we get so hung up on little things that don’t matter? When something negative happens, we focus on it and dwell on it and make our life revolve around it. If negative people try to tell us to give up on God’s calling for our life, we let them slow us down, or stop, or even reverse course. Paul is telling us, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” The answer is “no one!” If we focus on God and our calling to do His will, there is nothing short of death to stop us. It’s when we forget who we are, and whose we are that we get into trouble.

So what does all this mean to us?

We are created in the image of God.

Part of God’s spirit is within us.

Because of that, we also have the attributes of God in our nature, and should live accordingly.

We do not have a spirit of fear.

We have a spirit of power and love and self-discipline.

So I challenge you, when you face fear, remember that God has equipped you through our very existence as human beings, to live as children of God, not in fear, but in power.

And always remember that when God is with us, who can be against us?

(What follows is something I felt the the Spirit was telling me to share that morning. I don’t know why, but when God speaks, I listen. As it turns out, many were moved by it and shared stories of their own with me. Not only were THEY encouraged, but so was I.)

Has anyone here ever witnessed a miracle?

I’m not talking about the miracle of childbirth or any of the ordinary, everyday things we call miracles. Sometimes I think we actually cheapen the word “miracle” because we call everything a miracle. Like the sun rising in the morning is a “miracle.” Science can easily explain what is happening. What I’m talking about is something that happens that cannot be explained by science. Someone who’s body is riddled with cancer and then suddenly they are healed and there is not a trace of disease in their body. It cannot be explained by science.

These things are sometimes reported, but we quickly dismiss them and think it’s a hoax. Or that can’t be true because it defies science. My personal belief is that miracles defy science and that’s why they get called “miracles.”

There’s a story of a church in a drought area that every Sunday and Wednesday they would gather and pray for rain. They prayed week after week, month after month, but no rain. One day a little girl came to church with her parents. She had with her, an umbrella. Everyone looked at her and just kind of shrugged it off. Well, during their morning prayer, it began to rain. They people of the church were exclaiming, “I don’t believe it!” and “unbelievable, God has answered our prayers!” The pastor gathered the congregation back together and talked about what was happening. He explained, we have been praying for rain, but it never rained. Today it did because this little girl brought an umbrella. She is the only one who actually believed that God was going to answer our prayers. If you had believed, you would have also brought an umbrella because you would have had faith that God could do it. Not having an umbrella is evidence of your lack of faith.

I have rarely talked about this, but I am such a witness. THAT’s why I am so passionate about my faith and why nothing can shake me from believing in what I’m talking about.

I have only shared this story with a couple of people over the past 30 years. The reason for that, is fear. Fear that I would be seen as a nut-case, or some religious fanatic with thoughts of grandeur. But this morning as I brushed my teeth, I believe the Spirit was leading me to share it. To stop with this constant fear of what other people think. If you want to see me as a fanatic or nut case, you are welcome to do that, but I believe today may be the day that I was meant to share it.

Back in my early 20s, I was having bouts with tonsillitis. Now, I get tonsillitis like a child, complete with puss filled blisters and raw skin. Not to be gross, but it is what it is. I had a dozen or so recurrences of it over a two year period. Finally, I was told by the doctor, if I have one more occurrence, my tonsils had to come out. Well, I did get it again. I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror looking at my throat with a flashlight, knowing that my tonsils were going to have to come out. I was scared. I knew (or at least thought) that to have them removed as an adult can be not only an ordeal, but can be very dangerous. So while I stood there, I prayed that I would be healed. And a thought jumped into my head. Jesus taught us that we had the power to speak to an object and command it to move, and it would be moved. His demonstration was to speak to a fig tree and commanded that it bear no more fruit. The next day the fig tree was completely dried up and dead. Jesus said, we all have the power to do that, provided when we speak, we have faith that God would carry out our desire. We are to have no doubt about what we want. Be clear about what you want.

So I spoke to the disease in my throat. I commanded it to be gone. Somehow I knew, that the disease was gone and had complete faith what I wanted was already given to me.

Suddenly, I was overcome with extreme thirst and sleepiness. I could barely keep my eyes open. So I drank 2 glasses of water and went to bed. I slept for 12 hours. When I woke up, I went back to the bathroom and checked out my throat. The blisters were gone. The soreness was gone. There was not a shred of evidence of ever having the tonsillitis. That’s why I am convinced about what I am speaking on today. There is no doubt in my mind that we have the power Jesus promised us. When we start to live as true believers, the miracles within this church will begin to flow. We will change lives and see things we are going to have a hard time believing. But our faith is the key to change. Do we believe that God can turn our church around and create growth? Do we believe that God can increase our revenue, so that rather than shrinking our budget to meet current giving, we’ll have to expand it to accommodate our mission?

When we are faithful with small things, God will trust us with bigger things. That’s what Jesus told us, but do we believe that?

Discrimination in the Workplace - My thoughts

Before I get into my thoughts, I need to state my struggle on this issue. I do not write this article for the sake of creating controversy. I write it because I struggle with the paradox that has been created in our society over discrimination of certain groups. I struggle with how laws are carried out and what is the proper way to handle different ethical dilemmas. I am asking for thoughts on the issues. I am not stating where I stand on any of the controversies I am presenting. I am just stating that there is an inconsistency as to how they are handled and I seek clarity.

The issue at hand is discrimination against different groups. Just so you know where I am coming from, all my thoughts have been stirred over the “Duck Dynasty” controversy. In case your head has been buried in the sand, this is what happened (in a nutshell): A popular TV show called “Duck Dynasty” is all about a family that became wealthy by selling duck calls. It just so happens to currently be the most popular reality show on television and is aired on the A&E Network. The patriarch of the family, Phil Robertson, was interviewed by GQ Magazine. He expressed his views of homosexuality, which angered many people in the LGBT community and its supporters. His view was a very literal reading of a passage from 1^st Corinthians in the Bible, particularly that homosexuality is a sin. He also used very “colorful” language to express his views. The homosexual advocacy group, GLAAD, called for A&E to respond to the remarks and Phil Robertson was suspended from the show “indefinitely.” To this, GLAAD praised the network for its swift action. A&E said that Phil Robertson’s remarks in no way reflected the networks beliefs, that they are, and always have been, supporters and advocates of the LGBT community. That is pretty much the scenario of what got the wheels turning in my head.

Here’s what is bothering me. A&E basically “fired” someone because his value system did not agree with their own. There was a fear, on the part of A&E, that insulting the LGBT community was going to somehow adversely affect their network. This may be a very real concern. I am not going to dispute that. But it raised a few questions for me, such as under what conditions does the network have the right to fire someone? If Phil Robertson’s values are in conflict with his employer, does the employer have the right to fire him? If his views would reduce viewership, essentially causing a loss in profit to the network, do they have the right to fire him? If his views have outraged a particular group within society, do they have a right to fire him? These are the questions I’m wrestling with.

Let’s look at the first question. If Phil Robertson’s values are in conflict with his employer, does the employer have the right to fire him? A&E and GLAAD seem to be saying that they definitely have the right in this case. Phil did not hold back his opinions on homosexuality. It was clearly not in agreement with A&E’s value system. He was “suspended indefinitely.” So let’s look at it this way. I own a business. I believe that homosexuality is morally wrong. I hire a salesman who I find out later is openly gay, do I have the right to fire him? First of all, it is illegal to ask him during the interview his sexual preference, so I was not given this information before I decided to hire him. His lifestyle completely violates my value system, so according to A&E and GLAAD, based on their previous statements concerning Phil Robertson, I should be able to fire him. This employee is completely in conflict with my value system, as Phil was in conflict with A&E’s value system. In case you are wondering, I purposely chose this scenario because it reverses the roles of the employer/employee. I thought it was obvious, but I just wanted to be clear.

Moving on, let’s look at the second question. A&E is a business. Their product is entertainment. If his views would reduce viewership, essentially causing a loss in profit to the network, do they have the right to fire him? The sole purpose of a business in a capitalistic society is to make a profit, so if his views cause a loss in profits, can he then be fired? I found this one thought provoking. I actually wrote a paper on this in my Business Ethics class 8 years ago. My topic was “it is found out that I have an employee with AIDS preparing food, what do I do?” So here’s the situation: I own a restaurant. I hire someone in food preparation who has AIDS. Now I know that AIDS cannot be transmitted through the handling of food. However, the general public is not so well informed. They see this situation as a possible “risk” to their own well being and let me know that they will not patronize my establishment because of it. Do I have the right to fire this person in order to protect my business? As I stated, there is no health risk to my customers, but those same customers have a fear, based in ignorance perhaps, but never the less, it is still a fear. Is it discrimination because it’s based in public opinion and not fact? What if we go back to the first scenario of having a gay salesman. If my customers say they won’t do business with someone gay (perhaps I do business with churches who have a strong stand against homosexuality), do I have the right to fire him because it is bad for my business?

Let’s move on to question # 3. If my employee’s views have outraged a particular group within society, do I have a right to fire him? Let’s say I hire someone who I later find out is racist and is quite vocal about it. Is that grounds to fire him? Obviously, this will go back to the previous situations of disagreeing with my value system and customers not doing business with me because of his views, but going one step further, what if he outrages the African American community? Can I fire him for that? What if the majority of my customer base is white and no one is really offended by his views because he doesn’t mention them in the company of whites? But on his own time, he is blatantly racist? Is there some basis for firing him in this case?

In my quest for answers to the above dilemmas, I found that the federal website, www.eeoc.gov, says this about the Civil Rights Act, “These laws prohibit discrimination based on race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, and genetic information.” So I have to ask, did A&E violate the law when they “suspended” Phil Robertson “indefinitely?” His values stem from his Christian beliefs, so isn’t that discrimination based on religion? The Civil Rights Act clearly defines that as one of the reasons a person cannot be fired.

As I stated in the beginning, I am not saying what is right and what is wrong, I am simply seeking answers to the questions I posed. I will also claim here that I do not endorse discrimination of any sort. I’m just a regular guy asking questions that I believe many others struggle with. If I own a business, what are my rights in the pursuit of maximizing my profits? Do our laws help or hinder me in ethical situations? What can I do to protect my business from all the different advocacy groups that may disagree with my business practices? Do I have rights that outweigh the rights of those seeking employment with me? If I had all the answers to these questions, I would not be putting it out there for others to read. So please feel free to tell me what you think.